Chef Boyardee This is Not

Leftover wonton wrappers were the inspiration for this concoction of my own design. The only time I see ravioli is when one of the resident bachelors at work is emptying them into a 1 litre measuring cup and heating it up in microwave. Mostly the slop from the can does not look that appealing (this is turning into an odd analogy), but some how I turned this vision of canned noodles and meat into a delicious idea for dinner!

Lemon Basil Ravioli

300 g Ricotta Cheese
1 Bunch Fresh Basil, chopped
Zest of 1 Lemon
50 g grated parmesan
Pepper, to taste
40 Wonton Wrappers

Method:
In a bowl mix together cheeses, basil, lemon and pepper. Place 1 tsp of mixture onto a wonton wrapper. Wet edges and place a second wrapper over top. Squeeze edges to seal. Press fork tongs around edge of wrapper to create a design.
Heat a pot of boiling water. Carefully place wontons in water and cook for 2-3 minutes or until they rise to the top.

Tomato Sauce

2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 28oz (798ml) tin of chopped tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small bunch fresh basil, chopped
A splash of heavy cream

Method:
Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 5 minutes or until translucent. Add finely chopped stalks of basil, garlic and jalapeno, cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in cream and basil leaves.

The ricotta mixture. I am not sure why I put the oven mit in this picture, no heat was applied at this point, but I think it makes it look more chef-y.

The workstation

Bon Appetit!

Trying to be artsy close up. Did it work?

Inspiration from the Grocery Flyer!

After highlighting my first attempt at pasta making, I figured I would put my new found skill to work this weekend and concoct a delicious pasta dish that would be completely made from scratch. Upon scanning the flyers on Thursday I came up with the idea for making Tomato-Asparagus Carbonara. This dish utilized this weeks sales of grape tomatoes and asparagus.

For the tomatoes I was trying to utilize a technique in David Rocco's new book "Made in Italy." He says to roast cherry tomatoes in a 400 degree oven for 90 minutes on a baking sheet. Seemed easy enough, just halve the tomatoes and pop them in the oven for 90 minutes. However, checking in on the tomatoes after 30 minutes the bottoms were starting to turn a bit dark, I removed them at this point for fear of completely burning them if left any longer. I think if I tried this again I would use a glass baking dish or try to elevate the tomatoes on a cooling rack so they were not in direct contact with the pan.

All lined up ready to be baked.

Slightly charred but still edible.

For the asparagus I used a peeler to make ribbons, roughly the same thickness of the pasta and separated the spears tops to be tossed in throughout.

Healthy Asparagus ribbons.

The type of pasta I chose to make was fettucine. The long wide ribbons would get nicely coated in the carbonara sauce and could easily be slurrped up!

Long strands of Fettucine.

Recipe: Tomato-Asparagus Carbonara

1 lb fettucine
8 Spears of Asparagus, tips removed and shaved with peeler
1 pint grage tomatoes, halved
7 tbsp 35% cream
1 egg
1 cup grated parmesan
8 Slices Turkey Bacon, cut into bite sized pieces
Pepper

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 400. Bake Tomatoes on a single layer for 90 minutes (Or use store bought sun dried tomatoes)
Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add turkey bacon and cook until golden brown and crisp.
Combine cream and egg, stirring to combine.
Meanwhile in a large pot of boiling water, cook asparagus and pasta for 3 minutes if using fresh pasta.
Toss tomatoes in with turkey bacon.
Drain pasta/asparagus and toss into skillet. Pour over cream mixture and toss with pasta to evenly coat. Sprinkle on parmesan stirring to combine.
Enjoy!

New Year, New Resolutions

With the decadent chocolates, delicious roast meats with gravy and lethargic days of December behind, we are looking, like so many others, to make some better, healthier choices in the New Year. This means upping the vegetable content in our meals and looking to lower fat choices like fish. Salmon is our most used fish when cooking due to its unique flavour and multitude of ways to prepare. While the recipe below calls for frying the fish, I am sure you could bake the fish in a 425 degree oven for 15 – 20 minutes, which would further reduce the fat content of the recipe.

Corn Meal crusted Salmon

2 skinless salmon portions

3 tbsp oil

1/3 cup fine ground cornmeal

Salt and pepper to taste

A squeeze of lemon juice

Method:

In a bowl mix together the the cornmeal, salt and pepper. Take each salmon portion and generously coat each side.

Put  a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Once heated through pour in oil and then place salmon portions in pan. Cook 3-4 minutes per side until crust is golden brown. Remove from pan and squeeze over a bit of lemon juice.

Pan Roasted Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes

2 Tbsp oil

2 Zucchini, cubed

1 onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 cup cherry tomatoes

½ tsp dried oregano

Salt and Pepper

Method:

Heat large pan over medium high heat. Add zucchini, garlic and onion, fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and oregano and cook for 5 minutes longer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve.